Mortgage Applications Improved Even as Rates Moved Higher

There hasn't been meaningful change in economic data that measures activity in the housing and mortgage markets. In a nutshell, activity has been drifting along at long-term lows.  The weekly survey of mortgage application activity from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is no exception, for the most part.  Refinancing picked up in the summer months as rates fell, but not to historically strong levels, by any means. Purchase applications appear to be more volatile, but that's a factor of a narrower overall range.  They've been even more sideways. As of last week, both purchase and refi applications were effectively at the lowest levels of the year.  We knew the application landscape would be challenging due to the big jump in rates that hadn't yet been captured in l